Local Events
Palyul Ohio's
Khenpo Tsewang Gyatso Rinpoche will bless its new temple in Richfield
on October 27
In early October,
Palyul Changchub
Dargyeling Ohio succeeded in purchasing a property at 3750 Rt.
303 in Richfield. Palyul's spiritual leader, Khenpo Tsewang Gyatso
Rinpoche will visit Cleveland on Wednesday, October 27 at 7:00 pm
to bless the new temple.
The property
includes a restored, 2,500-sq.-ft. turn-of-the-century barn that
will be Palyul Ohio's new temple and home for its resident monk.
The organization is still welcoming donations to its building fund,
since it must replace three furnaces and do some expensive remodeling
to comply with handicap accessibility codes. Donation
information and pictures are available on the Palyul Ohio Web
site.
Congratulations
to the members of Palyul Ohio for making their dream of a permanent
home come true!
CBT holds Memorial
Service for Animals Sunday, November 7
The Cleveland
Buddhist Temple holds its semiannual Memorial Service for Animals
on Sunday, November 7 with a period of sitting meditation meditation
at 10:00 am and a service at 10:30 am. Tim McCarthy, leader of the
Kent Zendo and a volunteer humane officer for Portage County will
speak at the service. The event is open to everyone who would like
to express their love, sympathy and respect for animals who have
died. Photos and remembrances of pets can be placed on the alter
for the service. For more information, visit the CBT
Web site or contact Peter
Junger; voice: 216/721-9706.
CloudWater
Zendo's Ch'an Intensive will be Sunday, November 7
CloudWater
Zendo will hold a Ch'an Intensive on Sunday, November 7. The
event includes seated, walking and chanting meditation, work practice,
a light lunch, and a Dharma Talk by Ven. Shih Ying-Fa. Participants
can choose from three options:
- Long Intensive:
8:00 am to 5:00 pm
- Medium Intensive:
11:00 am to 5:00 pm
- Short Intensive:
2:00 pm to 5:00 pm
For more information,
contact Ven. Shih Ying-Fa
or call 216/889-1393
Canton's Malone
College hosts Worldview Forum on Buddhist/Christian dialogue November 8
Malone
College in Canton holds its next "Worldview Forum" Monday, November
8 at 8:00 pm with a program entitled "East
Meets West: A Buddhist and Christian Dialogue." CloudWater Zendo's
Ven. Shih Ying-Fa and Malone College history professor Dr. Gregory
J. Miller will field questions from the audience. The discussion
will be in the Hoover Dining Commons of the Brehme Centennial Center
located on the Malone campus at 515 25th Street N.W. in Canton.
The program is free and open to the public. For more information
contact the Malone College Office of Student Development at 330/471-8271.
Jewel Heart's
Gehlek Rimpoche visits Cleveland November 14 for three events
Jewel
Heart Cleveland's spiritual leader, Gehlek Rimpoche, will visit
Cleveland on November 14 for three public events at Unity Church
of Greater Cleveland in Shaker Heights. There will be two services,
one at 9:00 am and one at 11:00 am. At 1:30 pm. At 1:30 pm Rimpoche
will conduct a Tara Blessing Ceremony for Protection and Healing.
At the close of the program guests will have the opportunity to
purchase a signed copy of Rimpoche's The Tara Box: Rituals for Protection
and Healing from the Female Buddha. For more details, call Jewel
Heart at: 216/556-4858 or e-mail Sarah
Ralston.
CloudWater's
next Buddhist/Christian dialogue session will be Sunday, November 14
CloudWater
Zendo's continuing series of Buddhist/Christian dialogues entitled
"The Wheel and the Cross" will continue on Sunday, November 14.
Ven. Shih Ying-Fa and guest speaker Rev. Warren Campbell-Gaston,
pastor of the Willoughby United Methodist Church will discuss the
topic will be "Sunyata and Grace." Contact Ven.
Shih Ying-Fa or call 216/889-1393 for more details.
Udumbara's
Diane Martin visits Cleveland November 20
The Jijuyu-ji
Zen Group of Cleveland welcomes its guiding teacher, Sojun Diane
Martin, for a one-day Soto Zen retreat on November 20 at the Cleveland
Buddhist Temple. Martin heads the Udumbara
Zen Center in Evanston, IL. The retreat will include periods
of sitting and walking meditation, a chanting service, a Dharma
talk and the opportunity for optional practice interviews with Martin.
For more details, contact Dean
Williams.
In other Jijuyu-ji
news, Dean is at home recovering from successful surgery to remove
an infection from his left lung. He counts it as a great blessing
that the biopsy results have come back negative for any other complication.
Dean thanks the many, many people in the Dharma community here and
elsewhere who have wished him a speedy recovery.
CloudWater
Zendo's two-day Buddha's Enlightenment Retreat registration deadline
is December 1
CloudWater
Zendo's two-and-a-half-day intensive retreat will be December
3-5 at the Highbrook Lodge in Chardon. The retreat commemorates
the enlightenment of Buddha and will feature seated, walking and
chanting meditation, personal interviews, communal meals, and Dharma
Talks by Ven. Shih Ying-Fa. The retreat costs $120. A nonrefundable
deposit of $120 must be received by December 1. For more information,
contact Ven. Shih Ying-Fa
or call 216/889-1393.
Local News
Jewel Heart's
Monday evening Gateway classes run through December 13
On October 18,
Jewel
Heart Cleveland began an eight-week introductory course called
"Gateway to the Spiritual Path." The class meets Monday evenings
at 7:00 pm. The text is based on transcripts of Gehlek Rimpoche's
teachings and covers the foundation of the Tibetan Buddhist path.
The classes are $15 each. Contact Jewel Heart for more information
at 216/687-1617 or e-mail Anne
Warren.
Cleveland Shambhala
offers series on "Karma and the Twelve Nidanas" in Cleveland and
Akron
The Cleveland
Shambhala Meditation Group (CSMG) began a seven-week series
of classes on "Karma and the Twelve Nidanas" on Tuesday, October
12 at the Bratenahl Community Center. The series runs through November
23.
The same series
began on Thursday October 14 at CSMG's Akron location at the Episcopal
Church of Our Savior. This series will run through November 25.
The class will
refer to excerpts from Cutting
Through Spiritual Materialism, and "1978 Hinayana Mahayana
Seminary Transcripts," by the Ven. Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche; and
Taming the Mind and Walking the Bodhisattva Path, by Sakyong
Mipham Rinpoche. Each class begins with a period of meditation from
7:00 to 7:30 pm. The suggested donation is $30.
For more details,
and maps to the meeting locations, visit the CSMG
Web site; or send questions to Sheri at oaktree@gwis.com.
Regional
News
A spiritual
and financial success story
The Detroit
News recently featured Geri
Larkin, guiding teacher of Detroit's Still
Point Zen Buddhist Temple. Larkin is a former financial consultant
and author whose published works include Building
a Business the Buddhist Way and Stumbling
Towards Enlightenment. Larkin studied and taught at a Korean-affiliated
temple in Ann Arbor before moving to Detroit and founding Still
Point in 2000. In just four years, the group has grown to 110 members
and has a budget of $60,000.
The article
describes Larkin's approach to building the temple's services. This
includes encouraging individuals to take ownership of their moneymaking
ideas like the Temple's bookstore. Worth a read: "Founder
of Buddhist temple learns to share responsibility; Too many duties
often results in poor service to members, community," Detroit
News, September 26, 2004.
Related news:
Detroit's Still Point Zen Temple holds a Winter
Retreat from December 26 to December 30.
International
News
Nepal hosts
"Second World Buddhist Summit Conference" November 30 to December
2
Nepal, the historic
birthplace of Sakyamuni Buddha, will host the
Second World Buddhist Summit Conference at Lumbini, Nepal. The
purpose of the summit is to promote religious tourism in Nepal and
set up a "World Peace City" at Lumbini. The Nepal Tourism
Board expects to welcome 250 representatives from 35 countries.
See: "Nepal
to host Second World Buddhist Summit," Asia News IT,
October 4, 2004.
Japan lends
Indian state $115 million for infrastructure development at Sarnath
The Indo-Asian
News Service reports that the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation
(JBIC) will lend the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh $115 million
for infrastructure development at Sarnath.
The city is a major Buddhist pilgrim center and is the site of Sakyamuni
Buddha's first sermon. JBIC has previously funded restoration work
at the historic Ajanta-Ellora sites in Maharashtra state. The Uttar
Pradesh project will include setting up a chain of low-cost, eco-friendly
hotels. For more, see "Japan
helping India promote Buddhist tourism," Indo-Asian News Service
via the Hindustan Times, September 11, 2004.
Wall Street
Journal features environmental effort by Mongolian Buddhist
monks
It's very rare
to see coverage of Buddhist topics in the Wall Street Journal.
But there it was on October 8, 2004: "Mongolia's Monks Take Up New
Cause: Saving Giant Salmon," by Peter Wonacott.
Habitat destruction
and poaching is threatening the native Siberian salmon (also called
taimen) on the Uur River in Mongolia. Taimen can grow to be as long
as six-feet and weigh as much as 200 pounds. Conservationists and
American sport fisherman have enlisted a 26-year-old Buddhist monk
called Gantulga to join their World Bank-financed campaign to persuade
Mongolians to protect their wildlife.
"Mongolians
believe there are spirits in the river and that the fish belong
to them," Gantulga told the WSJ reporter. "We try to leave the fish
where they are."
In return for
contributions to restoring Mongolia's Buddhist temples, Gantulga
and his brother monks are combing the sutras and Mongolian legends
to find reasons that will persuade the locals to protect the fish;
while at the same time allowing foreigners to catch taimen for scientific
and sporting reasons. The sport fishermen are a source of essential
foreign currency for the country.
For example,
the report says a Columbus, OH-based veterinarian, Bill Dehoff,
visited Mongolia with a group of sport fishermen in September. DeHoff
caught a 54-inch taimen. The party posed for pictures, released
the taimen and after their return to Ohio, donated $25,000 for monastery
rebuilding.
Unfortunately,
WSJ Online is a subscription-only resource. But thanks to the miracle
of the Internet, you can see an abbreviated version of the story
on the San Diego Union-Tribune's site: "Monk
may help save Siberian salmon." You can read the original story
by going to the reference desk at your local library.
Culture and
Arts
Online Buddhist
art exhibit collects 27 artifacts from Tibet, China, India, Japan
and Thailand
The Pacific
Asia Museum is hosting an online exhibit called "Visions
of Enlightenment: Understanding the Art of Buddhism." The online
exhibit is the legacy of one that the museum hosted in 2003. It
collects 27 artifacts including paintings, sculptures and ritual
objects from Tibet, China, India, Japan and Thailand. There are
both Flash and HTML versions of the exhibit. Each item is accompanied
by text that relates it to the legacy of Sakyamuni Buddha and its
relation to other Buddhist art.
Famous Indian
director may be working on a film about Sakyamuni Buddha's life
Shekhar
Kapoor, director of the acclaimed 1998 movie "Elizabeth," may
be in preproduction for a film on the life of Sakyamuni Buddha.
Reports in the Asian press say Kapoor and his backers plan to release
the film next year in time for the 2,550th anniversary of the Buddha's
birth. The $50 million venture is being commissioned by the Mahabodhi
Society of India. HH the Dalai Lama will have script approval and
prominent Hollywood Buddhists like Richard Gere, Sharon Stone and
Goldie Hawn are being considered for the cast. Deepak Chopra is
also reported to be assisting with the script. However, the proposed
movie does not yet show up in Kapoor's
IMDB listing. Sources:
- ''Shekhar
Kapoor's movie on Buddha won't hurt Buddhists," India Daily,
September 27, 2004;
- "'Buddha'
unites Dalai Lama, Kapur, Chopra," Times of India, September
28, 2004;
- "Shekhar
Kapoor plans a film on Buddha," ApunkaChoice.com, September
30, 2004.
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